up-plating a Broadway

I am writing this to document what I have tried and the problems that I have encountered, so that someone in the future may be better informed, should they stumble across this when doing initial investigation.

I have been thinking of up plating our 2016 Broadway EK LT. We bought it last year and knew it would need new tyres, which I wanted to get done before we go away later in the year. I contacted Van Weight Engineering and got back a really helpful response about the possible paths forward.

My plan was to go from the stock 15" (5x118 PCD) alloys to 16" rims and then put higher load rated tyres on them and then invest in semi-air suspension on the rear axle. Being a cheapskate I stated looking at steel rims, half the price of alloys. The company I contacted assured me that the rims were rated to 1250Kg. However, once these rims were delivered they were not able to provide any official documentation to back this rating up and the rims did not have any markings either. So, back the rims had to go. I then bit the bullet and ordered alloys from RogueAlloys. These arrived and had the load rating stamped on the back so all was well. However, things started to go wrong when our local tyre fitter tried to get the tyres on. First up was a 225/75R16 tyre, but it caught on the rear wheel arch. Then they tried the 225/65R16, which were not quite as tall. They fitted in the rear wheel arch, after removing a little bit of the forward wheel arch to get the clearence. However, the front tyres were a little too exposed for me to be happy. Looking down from the maximum flare of the wing the tread was covered but the bottom of the arch was further in and not covering the tread. Not an MOT fail but possibly an interesting conversation with a VOSA inspector being picky. Also, the spare wouldn't fit in the space infront of the waste water tank.

Interestingly, the amount of rear wheel arch that needed to be nibbled away was different from side to side - so the coach built body is not sitting squarely on the chassis.

So, having travelled home from the tyre fitting minus the spare and thinking about it over the weekend I decided to go back to the 15" alloys. I have been able to return the 16" alloys, big debt of gratitude to Rogue Alloys. So, that just leaves me with the 16" tyres, now on the classified area of the forum.

I hope my journey towards and back from bigger wheels may help someone else wanting to travel along the same path.

The main piece of advice was that the stock 15" alloys would not have the load capacity and that to increase that one would need to go to a higher load rating on the alloy (and the tyre). I looked around for higher rated 15" alloys and didn't find much. Whereas there were loads of higher rated 16" alloys. I was well aware of the increased rolling circumfrence - my computations base on observing the GPS speed and displayed speed was that the speedo is about 9% fast so bigger tyres would have made the displayed speed more accurate and be OK provided you don't make the speedo under read.

Yes, back on the stock 15" alloys. I had a quick look at the back of the alloys when they were off but couldn't see any load marking through all of the accumulated dirt and grime. I won't be taking one off to give it a clean up and a better look. It will have to wait until I get a puncture and need to.

I notice you had the wheelarch problem, as mentioned its a little late for you but perhaps we can save some grief for someone else.  You can fit and remove 16" wheels and alloys ( i have 235/65/16 standard alloys and tyres )  by one simple method   - the jack needs to go under and lift at the end of the leaf spring. It is the only way you will clear the wheel enough without damaging or god forbid removing any archway. be sure to specify this to garage tyre fitters as they will be quite sure they know best

road warrior wrote:I notice you had the wheelarch problem, as mentioned its a little late for you but perhaps we can save some grief for someone else.  You can fit and remove 16" wheels and alloys ( i have 235/65/16 standard alloys and tyres )  by one simple method   - the jack needs to go under and lift at the end of the leaf spring. It is the only way you will clear the wheel enough without damaging or god forbid removing any archway. be sure to specify this to garage tyre fitters as they will be quite sure they know best

The fitter got the wheel on the rear axle OK, but the clearence to the front edge of the wheel arch, where the moulding turns the corner and transitions from vertical to horizontal, was not good enough. By trimmimg the horizontal edge back a bit enough clerance was gained.

Caraman wrote:I've just called in at my local Peugeot dealer.  Whilst they can identify the vehicle and its spec on their system, it doesn't tell them the load rating of the 15 inch alloy wheel Peugeot supplied.  For that they say I must remove the wheel and look on the inside.  Its a nice day and my wheels are off the ground on my self-levelling system so I'll take a wheel off this afternoon to see what it says.

I think it would be good to have this information recorded for future owners to discover. As the standard fit tyre is a 109 I would expect that the rims had a similar load capacity. If you find the load markings on the rim could you post a picture, as that is the kind of evidence that possibly needs to be presented when justifying up plating beyond the base chassis plate.

:) Chris.

These are the stock alloys that I have:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

We upplated our Broadway due to the towbar and ebikes issue. Our MAM is 4090kg. Front axle is 1850. Rear axle is 2240kg. We added semi air bags on rear suspension. We upgraded our tyres ..  OEM alloy 15" to 225/70/R15 112.  All sorted by vanq weight engineering. Been no problems whatsoever and far better ride and handling. Tyres were Michelin agilis three season if I remember correctly . Steve

Caravan ... An weight engineering did the figures and recommendations. The DVLA approved the conversion. The i surance  company have all the details. We've driven over 8000 miles now without event. I dont think the rear axle is loaded anywhere near close to that. When we originally did all this we were 60kg above the 3.5 T and around 30kg over rear axle weight fully laden with water fuel and what we carry. Only a 6.3m moho there isn't the space for anything and we don't carry huge amounts other than some astronomy gear and that is well forward by front seats. I will however go back to van weight engineering and check because your advice and knowledge has always been spot on before and you've helped us as newbies many times before. When I get some answers I'll come back to you. I'll also talk to our local moho workshop which has just opened. They are very knowledgeable...a group of five or six who have left a national dealership to get up their own business. Anyway will get back to you when we have answers

Have you checked axle weights on a weighbridge since up plating?, everything you describe is theoretical.

Don't disagree with that at all. I looked ours up 112Q tyres. Anyway I'll go investigate and also stick it on the local weigh station when next loaded up ready to go. Be interesting to see what emerges from.my enquiries

caraman, can i suggest you put some grease on the back of the wheel where it bolts to the hub and you wont find it so hard to separate next time.

Caraman wrote:
Spot on.  The first time I took all my wheels off they were nearly all stuck so I did what you have suggested.  Yesterday I forgot to replace the grease so will probably pay the price the next time I take it off.

They do look beautifully clean though. Perhaps you could offer this as a service to other owners...   [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Plymouthwelshboy wrote:Caravan ... Van weight engineering did the figures and recommendations. The DVLA approved the conversion. The i surance  company have all the details. We've driven over 8000 miles now without event.

The advice I had from VanWeight Engineering was that 15" 112 tyres would need new alloys with a higher load weight than the stock alloys. That is why I decided to go for 16" alloys and initially tyres with an even higher load index. I think it will be most informative to see what the load weight limits are for the stock alloys.

As the OP I would like to say thank you to all of the participants on this thread, particularly caraman and his wheel cleaning dedication. Hopefully we will uncover enough information to help out anyone else that is looking to tread the up-plating path in the future.

HI Just completed my up plate on a Broadway Duo and used Van Weight Engineering to do the paperwork. They were very helpful and a small one man band company, They overcame a few little issues with no bother. I have now have plenty of payload and they managed to get the van to 4250KG. I did all the modifications like fit the Drive rite semi air suspension and had new 16inch wheels and tyres from Rogue Alloys. I have upgraded the front springs which was not necessary but i wanted a nicer ride and also it lifted the front end by 30mm. Easy process and not a big deal if you need more payload. If you need any data on the equipment i used just message me.